Fear is a normal emotion that all humans have, most of the time it acts as a safety switch to keep us out of danger, especially if it's something we have experienced in the past. Humans are usually born with two fears; the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling, every other fear we have were born out of the experiences we get as we move through life.

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I have experienced extreme fear so many times in my life but most of them happened when I entered the university. I didn't like the idea of staying in the campus hostel, so I decided to stay in one of the off-campus communities close to the school, and I picked a very dangerous one. I knew how dangerous that community is but I still picked it because the houses there are cheap.

There are different secret cult groups in that community and sometimes they end up fighting, which usually results in one or more innocent people dying. Every time a bloody clash is happening, I was always lucky to be at home and all I have to do is to lock my door and remain indoors, until one faithful day when I was stranded outside.

It was a Sunday and I went home to my parents to get a few food items from them. I was returning to the university in the evening and I suddenly started hearing news that a fight was going on in the off-campus community I stay. When I finally got to the campus, I went to the gate that leads into the community and I found a lot of people waiting, the gate has been locked!

I found out that some cult members and also one of the security men at the gate were killed during the fight, so the university's management ordered the gate to be shut. We were waiting and hoping they would later open it to allow us through, we kept begging them but they refused. The only option we had was to walk a very long distance and enter the community through the major road, the gate is a shortcut but it was closed that day.

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At about 10 pm, many people gave up and decided to follow the long road into the community. I decided to go with them because it will be safer if a lot of us walked together, just in case there are still some gang members on the road looking for revenge. We followed the major road for over 30 minutes and we finally entered the community, it was time for the hard part of the journey.

We all walked in silence and tried as much as possible not to draw attention to ourselves. There was no other person on the road and all business centers and shops have closed, it felt like a ghost town. Our numbers started to reduce as people got to their respective houses, and eventually, I was the only person remaining! I bid farewell to the last two persons that were with me and I was now alone on the road.

It rained that day and it was still cloudy at that time of the night, everywhere was pitch black. I didn't even dare put on my torchlight because that will just draw attention to myself, I kept moving while my heart was beating faster than a ticking clock. Every wise person was already indoors after what happened that day, but there I was walking through the valley of death. That was the worst night of my life, I panicked at every little sound because I was very scared of running into some of the gang members in the community, my emotions were on very high alert and I was sweating like a sinner in church even though the night was very cold.

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I eventually got to my hostel and I wasn't surprised to meet the gate locked, every normal person will shut their gate whenever a gang battle is happening. I quietly knocked on the gate and prayed that the gateman isn't sleeping yet, luckily for me he answered after about 3 knocks and opened the gate, I rushed in immediately and started breathing normally, it felt like I was holding my breath all through the journey as if my breathing might alert the bad guys of my presence.

I met some of my neighbors discussing what happened that day, 2 cult groups clashed and they left a trail of dead bodies. 2 cult members and 4 innocent people died that day, one of them was a security personnel stationed at the gate because the fight happened around that area.

One of my neighbors that returned earlier that night said he ran into some of the cult members and some of them were holding guns while others were with battle axes. He managed to evade them by following another route which he was familiar with, and he finally got home. I have had other similar experiences but this particular one is topping the list, it has been over 3 years but it still felt like yesterday.

**Thanks for reading**

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<strong>Lead image: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/scared-young-woman-biting-fingernails-shivering-from-fear_9696408.htm#query=Fear&position=19&from_view=search">Image by cookie_studio</a> on Freepik </strong> <br>
<strong>Edited with Canva</strong>
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